Song Between the Imp and Shade
by Z-END99
Summary: Technical Sequel of Talk of Two Imps. As Link and Midna make their way to the Temple of Time, the Skull Kid and Hero's Shade see each-other for one final time.


**Man, it feels weird to be writing again but I digress, so long story short, shit came up regarding me falling behind on payments for my house and I had to deal with said shit as I lost any real means of both time or wanting to even write anything for several months while getting all of that under control, honestly I was debating just putting all my stories on haitus until I got everything finished on my end, but for now I'm going to be going off of writing one-shots for a bit until I get back into writing since I feel like I got rusty over my break. But I'm getting back into it and hopefully I won't be away from writing or having any excuses for not writing or updating while promising I would. So here's to a new year, new beginnings and I know it's late but happy 2020 everyone. And as always I Do Not own anything, the Legend of Zelda belongs to Nintendo.**

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Quiet was the forest as several sounds of a steel began striking down beings of wood echoed into the greenwood, sweat bearing down the green tunic-wearing man's face as before him was the imp that took pleasure in messing with him, once again he had come to this forest, the first time to retrieve the blade that he currently grasped with a great look of determination.

"Heh. you seem to have gotten better, then again I suppose you can swing a sword better with hands instead of paws" the imp teased playfully before raising the trumpet-like device to his lips, the swordsman frowned and readied himself as several more puppets belonging to the creature seemingly surrounded the imp and slowly made their way to the swordsman, who silently prepared himself while the shadow under him silently contemplating just who he truly was as he clearly was just messing with them, and even after their first encounter.

He seemed less of a malicious force, more of a prankster. As her hero defeated the strange puppets of the imp, Midna watched from the shadows as Link pulled out his bow, noticing it up with his gaze focused on the imp and hoping to finish it. Before he could however, the imp said nothing and disappeared, much to the hero in green's ire.

Several minutes passed as the battle seemed to have reached its conclusion, as the imp, having sized up the intruder to his old forest home, merely nodded his head in acceptance, using his magic to brush off any of the wounds received and giving a little bit of a cheerful laugh. Perhaps nostalgic feelings coursed through him, but in either situation, the imp let out a seemingly congratulatory parting words, and in a swirl of leaves, vanished from sight as the magic he placed on the forested area disappeared, the rays of the morning sun illuminating the battlefield as Link and Midna were left speechless.

"Hehehehe, I'll let you into a secret place... bye-bye, Hero" they heard his words echo into the area as the illusion blocking the way to the Sacred Grove's most inner area disappeared, much to Link's and Midna's utter confusion.

"...I... I don't really get that thing, what's his angle" Link muttered as Midna gave a laugh of her own. Appearing before him, the second imp in the forest leaned on his shoulder as she hovered beside him, a matching grin on her face as she decided to join in the fun. "You know, maybe he just likes messing with you, Wolf-boy. I know I love to mess with you all the time" she joked as Link turned to her, a flat gaze of amusement was her answer to any thoughts he had as he just decided to look around the area to find the next mirror shard.

All while wondering just why she seemed to be more laid back since them first been here... or until they got to the Arbitor's Grounds...

'Never again' Link thought to himself as he made his way deeper into the forest.

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Sometime later, Skull Kid jumped down towards the two trees that parted ways with the howling stone that twice-summoned him now gone silent as he dusted himself off, thinking back to his time testing the hero, he was not disappointed, though with his experiences with the man's family, his grand-father to be more accurate, he wasn't all the surprised.

"...We have a visitor?" Skull Kid asked out loud as he was greeted with a sight he expected he would see again, a fierce beast of golden fur and a sole red eye gazing upon him as he gave a laugh. "Yo, I take it you saw the show, I told you I would lead him there, and get a bit of a good laugh out of it as well" the imp said, seemingly snickering at his own joke while the ghostly wolf nodded. as the light around him began to shine as the beast twisted and expanded into a new figure altogether, a small bit of sadness washed upon the imp's face, seeing his old friend suffering as he was. "It's been a while... Link."

"Indeed, old friend. thank you for leading him to the forest, while not as potent, we both know the dangers of the Lost Woods, and the costs those pay who travel here, unprepared" he spoke in a deep voice, one that the imp hadn't heard in a while, not since his final words of a prophecy he had. But the imp knew about the dangers of the forest as he himself millennia ago suffered such a thing.

"And now we wait for him to succeed, he really is like you, or at least from what I remember of you, not exactly as skilled as you were as a kid... Mr. Magician" he stated, unimpressed with the new hero's lack of abilities when it came to magic. The ghostly specter said nothing but kept a small smile on his bearded face, a stark contrast to the ghostly shade he would appear as to the hero. True as it was the new hero lacked the abilities of magic, he himself, known for some of his magical feats only achieved it with the help of the Great Fairies of Hyrule and Termina.

But those old memories were now just that, memories of a somewhat better time for him, though that wasn't to say he had a very easy life, but he knew that they would be approaching the endgame. Soon his grandson's journey would be complete, the ghostly spirit of the Hero of Time would have passed on all of his techniques to him, gave him the advice to continue and looking out over his grandson. And when that happened-

"You... don't have much time left, do you?" Skull Kid stated as the Hero's Shade remained silent as he knew his time left on this side was almost over. Skull Kid looked down, his hat's brim covering his face as he couldn't look at the taller being in the eyes, or... eye in his case. "I... don't want to be alone. Not again" he said as the Hero's Shade looked at the far older being in a means of sympathy before kneeling down to him, placing a ghostly hand on his friend, a warm smile on his face.

"Skull Kid, remember... we are not truly alone if we have our memories of one-another. we will always be friends, and we will meet again, we promised, didn't we?" he asked in a comforting tone as the imp looked up at him, his vision blurred with tears as he nodded, accepting it before grabbing his trumpet with a small smile.

"Yeah... we did... before you go, let's play one last time... just like before" he asked as he eyed his friend as the older-looking being gave a small nod, silently standing back up as he allowed the shape-shifting process to begin, the sole red eye of the beast, while intimidating to some, now was comforting to the imp. Tatl and Tael were gone, returned to the magic that created them while Link was lingering as a spirit of regret.

Perhaps once this was over he could find peace, and so while he himself never learned the Song of Healing, the imp would play a song to send his old friend off on, one perhaps would heal his soul in an even better way. "You ready, Skull Kid" the wolf asked the small imp, who just grinned.

"Hehehehe, just watch me, old man" the imp retorted as the forest was filled with a new kind of sound, one of howling and trumpets... that despite their loud and not-so-pleasing tones on the ears, filled the greenwood with a somewhat familiar song. A song once played by their respective friend.

A song to symbolize their friendship.

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**So here we go, lately I've been playing both Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask again and I decided to do a few one-shots about the time between Majora's mask and Twilight Princess. This I suppose can be the considered sequel of Talk of Two Imps I wrote a year or so ago. Like always thanks for reading and have a good day... or night, whenever you're going to be reading this.**


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